I am trying to make some gooseneck-type lamps for over a freight door. I have purchased the midro bulbs and lamp shades, but need to either biend t=some tubing to mount tham or figure a way to stiffen the wire to retain the shape. Any suggections?
RicZ
The problem with bending tubing is that the stuff collapses as you bend it. The traditional fix has been to fill the hollow tubing with something solid, like Cerrobend. Which is still available from McMasters Carr.
You might try sliding a piece of piano wire inside the tubing and then bending it. Then pull the wire out of the bent tubing, if you can.
These work alright but not the best way to bend tubing.
http://www.micromark.com/5-piece-Spring-Type-Tube-Bender-Set,7048.html
Try copper instead of brass tubing. The copper bends easily with better resistance to kinking than brass.
Pete
Hi RicZ
Try threading your wire through plastic tub first, and then carefully heating it and bending it a little at a time.
Sam
Fill the tube with fine sand. That prevents it from kinking as you bend it around a form.
I agree with Pete. I used the wire tube benders you can also purchase at Hobby Lobby. Heat the brass or copper tube with a propane torch where the bend will be, quickly insert into the tube bender and using leather gloves and pliers bend the tube over a piece of wooden dowel held in your vice. I used 1/8" brass tubing and a grommet that fit for the reflector shade. I also found some ornate cone shaped beads at Hobby Lobby for the base that make the lights look more Victorian. Hobby Lobby also has some miniature battery operated Christmas light sets I cut apart and rewired with thinner wire leads that fit through the small diameter tubing.
RicZ
First question - What scale are you modeling in?
If you are in HO then I think that any tubing that will be large enough to feed your wires through will be way too big for HO. I have used two methods.
First, on larger lights I have formed a piece of stiff wire (I use my son’s old single wire guitar strings) and then super glued the wires to either side. It does not come out round like the prototype but the shape isn’t glaringly obvious when the lamp is lit.
The second method for smaller lights (i.e. 1.5v 1.2mm bulbs with solid wire leads) is to simply glue the two leads together and form them into the proper shape. The challenge with this method is that the lights are very delicate so when you are handling the structure you have to be VERY careful not to touch the lights. Having said that, I have found the wires to be very forgiving in that they have survived several distortions and still work fine. Here is an example of the second method:
By the way, I am going away from the incandescent bulbs and will try micro LEDs for these types of installations in the future, simply because the LEDs will last much longer then the incandescent bulbs. When I get some installed I will post some pictures for comparison.
Dave
Fill it with water cap both ends and freeze it, that how they bend the brass for musical instraments, saw it on How Its Made.
I recently purchased some street lights made in China that appear to use liquid electrical tape to coat and stiffen the wires and form them into a gooseneck shape. You would probably have to let the coated wire dry for a day or two to become stiff enough, and may need to give it more than one coating of the product.
In my old R/C Airplane days we would bend tubing for fuel lines by filling them with water and closing the ends tight with Visegrips. Make sure there is no air left in it, or it won’t work. You must bend it around something like a piece of dowel or screw driver shaft of the right diameter for an even curve. You will lose a bit of tubing on each end from the damage left by the visegrip but it is the cost of doing business.[:)]
Brent[C):-)]
Critter,
1/8" tube equates to about 9"–a little large for lamp posts maybe but not enough to look really out of place.
Hi eaglescout
Actually, 9" sounds OK to me for a lamp post, however the OP was asking about ‘gooseneck’ lamps. The lamp below the peak of the roof in this picture is a Walthers Cornerstone built-up. The gooseneck is approx. 3" in diameter and it doesn’t look too bad. The lamp shade is way too big but that is another storey. Walthers uses two parallel pieces of flat brass stock with an insulator between them to form the neck.
I don’t think the prototype ‘neck’ would have been much more then 1.5" dia. hence my comment about tubing large enough to feed wires through being too big.
Dave
The LION likes the idea of using 1/16" welding rod. Bend it as you like, it becomes your ground conductor. Put a seed bead just above the lamp and shade to approximate the socket. Varnish the fitting. Use a fine uninsulated wire for the other conductor, and glue it smoothly to the varnished fitting. Light.
But in the modern era, big chunky fixtures are not inappropriate as witness these monsters:
